Peyton Manning closing in on Dan Marino in passing yards

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning takes the field tonight to start a season in which he’ll continue his march toward owning all of the major career passing records.

Most significant of the many accomplishments Manning can achieve this season is surpassing Dan Marino for second place on the all-time passing yardage list. Manning has 59,487 career passing yards, so if he passes for 1,875 yards this year, he’ll pass Dan Marino (61,361 yards) for second all-time, behind only Brett Favre.

Manning has topped 4,000 passing yards in all but two of his pro seasons. He already owns the record for most 4,000-yard passing seasons with 12, and he can add to that record if he gets his 13th 4,000-yard season this year.

If Manning throws 566 passes this season, he’ll also surpass Marino in pass attempts. Marino is second behind Favre with 8,358 passes thrown in his career.

Manning has 22 games with four or more touchdown passes in his career. Only Favre, with 23 such games, has more, so if Manning throws four touchdown passes twice this season, he’ll pass Favre on that front.

Manning is already the all-time NFL record holder in 300-yard passing games, with 72, so every time he tops 300 yards he’s adding to his own record.

All of these accomplishments are listed in the 2013 Official NFL Record and Fact Book, a book that lists Favre as the all-time record holder in pass attempts (10,169), completions (6,300), yards (71,838) and touchdowns (508). Manning is probably about four seasons away from passing Favre in all four categories. Breaking those records would require Manning to keep playing and stay healthy until he’s 40. That’s not easy, but I wouldn’t bet against him.

As a student of football and a football fanatic I am always amazaed at such statistics. Keep in mind whether you’re talking about Peyton Manning (whom I love) or Dan Marino or Drew Brees etc, none of these guys played in a time of bump and run whre cornerbacks and safeties started beating on receivers just before the snap of the ball to well past the snap of the ball. Drew Brees passes the football darn near 50 times every game with no bump and run on receivers, he’s still no Johnny Unitas……………………..

I’d love for him to take those records away from Favre, Manning is a class act and IMO the best QB in the game today.

rpiotr01 says:Sep 5, 2013 11:25 AM

Numbers are what they are, but I still think Marino’s numbers carry a lot more weight considering the era he played in. He was truly a player before his time, and I can’t imagine what he would have done with today’s game.

Manning is absolutely an all-time great, but they changed the rules of the game specifically to allow his team to pass the ball more efficiently. You can’t ignore how the NFL has changed rules in favor of WRs and passing offenses, plus added so much more protection of the QB, since a decade ago.

southernpatriots says:Sep 5, 2013 11:25 AM

I watched this greatness for so many years now beginning with his dad, “Archie Who?” for LSU alums and fans and seeing his son(s) excel even more.

Marino will always be the best in my book , simply because he did it in an era in which no one else was putting up those kinds of numbers. People can scream and yell “No rings” till they’re blue in the face ; it’s not his fault that the team couldn’t draft worth a damn for most of his career.

jamaltimore says:Sep 5, 2013 11:31 AM

Not hating but I’m thinking he won’t make it through a whole season this year. May not even make it through tonight’s game with Sizzle and DOOM crashing down on him.

Keep in mind Favre set all those records playing predominately in an outdoor stadium with terrible weather. Manning had the benefit of playing in an artificial, fake environment for the majority of his career in the close confines of the dome in Indy. Almost seems unfair to compare the two, yet Favre still might hold onto the records after Manning is done.

somethingsmellsrotten says:Sep 5, 2013 11:45 AM

All those yards and records won’t mean much when he doesn’t win the big one…yet again.

davidjcu says:Sep 5, 2013 11:48 AM

He won’t break Favre’s all-time record for most interceptions thrown in a career.

jacktheraven says:Sep 5, 2013 11:51 AM

That’s a lot of yards, between 2 greats. Shame they only have 1 SB between them.

People who hate on Manning are typically mouth breathing Pats fans who think that Manning’s greatness somehow takes away from Brady’s greatness. But let’s be real folks, give Manning a Belichek & those defenses the Pats had from 01-07 & Manning might have 5 rings. Maybe even sprinkle in a little tuck rule magic to get to 6? Lol, Brady is great if course, but Manning edges him out in my opinion.

Dan Marino in today’s game would put up monster numbers. Perhaps some here are too young to have seen him play. Pity.

Laser passes zipped through the earhole of the defender. Best pure passer to play the game period.

browns627 says:Sep 5, 2013 12:02 PM

growing up with QBs like marino, elway and montana i have to say i am amazed on how much the quality at the QB position has jumped in guys like favre, manning, breese and brady… i loved watching favre duribng his career and never dawned on me that he would end up being the best of the best.. until manning off course

No reason to dispute Mannings records. He is a great player and one of the greatest ever. He can never be the greatest ever though and either can Brady without 4 super bowl wins. Can’t get ahead of Montana without that.

people do not understand what marino did, he threw for 5k yards and 48 td’s in his second year in a league 1985 which was never even thought was possible and at a time that did not have all the cupcake penalties that favor passing. he single handlely carried the dolphins to a winning record every year with nobody on his team. he didnt have a top 10 defense, a 1k yard rusher, jerry rice or anything. if you saying who was the greatest qb who had the best team behind him, i would say montana, but as far as skill that the position and dominance, there will never be anyone better than dan the man.

jacktheraven says:Sep 5, 2013 12:36 PM

Best of luck to Bronco fans this season. Just not tonight! Maybe we’ll see you in the playoffs again.

Marino would have thrown for 6k yards a year in this league. Only people who think otherwise were those who didn’t see him play.

thereisfootballwestofjersey says:Sep 5, 2013 12:51 PM

Peyton’s arm is TOAST! We saw all we needed to see in the playoff loss to the Ravens last Jan. Come to think of if – the last two “must win” games in Manning’s career (Super Bowl against the Saints and last year against the Ravens) he’s thrown the pic to nail the coffin shut.

Peyton Manning doesn’t scare anybody. His glory years are way behind him

Marino did in an ERA when cornerbacks got away with murder and the quarterback was actually allowed to get the snot knocked out of him. No disrespect to the current class, but totally diferent ERAs. Same goes for the Brees record. Lord knows what Marino’s numbers would be if he was playing today.

brownstain says:Sep 5, 2013 12:59 PM

Imagine the records Archie would hold if he hadn’t been stuck in New Orleans.

dwarftosser says:Sep 5, 2013 1:08 PM

Just imagine if you had a QB with Peyton Manning’s mind and Brett Favre’s arm… Actually, I guess that is kind of what Aaron Rodgers is.

xxsweepthelegxx says:Sep 5, 2013 1:09 PM

titansbro says:
Sep 5, 2013 11:55 AM
People who hate on Manning are typically mouth breathing Pats fans who think that Manning’s greatness somehow takes away from Brady’s greatness. But let’s be real folks, give Manning a Belichek & those defenses the Pats had from 01-07 & Manning might have 5 rings. Maybe even sprinkle in a little tuck rule magic to get to 6? Lol, Brady is great if course, but Manning edges him out in my opinion.
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I tend to agree with you on the “praising Manning somehow takes away from Brady” comment… and I’m a Pat’s fan. People have a hard time just saying they are both great.

But for all your arguments about “give Manning BB and better defense, etc…and he’d have more rings.” I’d just counter with give Brady HOF WRs/RBs to work his entire career (IND) and play in a 70 degree, no wind/rain/snow dome for 70% of his games and maybe he’d have 6 or 7 rings? As soon as you gave Brady serious offensive threats, he set points/passing records.

Neither of their careers are over, so the jury is still out. I give Brady an edge at “winning when it counts” but Manning an edge in truly managing the game, calling plays, etc…

No matter how you slice, IMO, we are watching two of the greatest QBs to ever play the game and I’m loving it!

titansbro says:
Sep 5, 2013 11:55 AM
People who hate on Manning are typically mouth breathing Pats fans who think that Manning’s greatness somehow takes away from Brady’s greatness. But let’s be real folks, give Manning a Belichek & those defenses the Pats had from 01-07 & Manning might have 5 rings. Maybe even sprinkle in a little tuck rule magic to get to 6? Lol, Brady is great if course, but Manning edges him out in my opinion
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Brady, like Favre has played his whole career in an outdoor stadium, and lots of bad weather. Manning has played his whole career (except last year) at least nine games a year in a dome. Eight at home one at Houston. That being said his numbers should be better.

Joe (Super Joe) Montana is the greatest. However, if you can read those stats and spout negativity, in terms of their on-field prowess, about those 3 QBs, there is something seriously wrong with you. There is some sort of flaw in your personality.

He’s have the same Super Bowl record as Marino too (0-1) were it not for the corrupt officials in that game against the Patriots back in 06 I believe it was. Pats were about to go up 28-0 or 28-7 in Indy when a bizarre string of offensive and then defensive pass interference penalties ensued that put Indy in position to come back and win and go on to play the Bears and Rex Grossman in the SB. It sucks when you see a team make Pass Interference part of their game plan because they know they are going to get the calls, and nothing else is working for them. I’ll forever believe that game was rigged so they could get Manning to the SB. They wanted him to be the face of the NFL but he just kept losing big games, so they helped him out a bit. It was embarrassing to see him continuing to choke. I fear he’s going to get that same help this year because of all the hype. I’ll sign off the NFL for good if they try to engineer another Brother Bowl…..

indytom87 says:Sep 5, 2013 1:42 PM

Favre will still own the sexting records.

surfinbird1 says:Sep 5, 2013 1:43 PM

He’ll make more commercials than Marino, I know that.

elimanningup says:Sep 5, 2013 1:47 PM

Eli to Peyton: “Got rings? As in plural.”

browns627 says:Sep 5, 2013 1:57 PM

someone here made a great point about favre… he didnt play home games in a dome or in sunny climate… that just put favre at the top of my list..dont knock him until you’ve lived up north!

I still think Marino’s numbers carry a lot more weight considering the era he played in. He was truly a player before his time, and I can’t imagine what he would have done with today’s game.
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Agree very much with that statement. Marino with a 5 wide or 3 wide/2 TE split out would have been awful to face.

As a Pats fan I loathed facing Miami when Marino was playing. Mainly because Marino never gave up ever under any circumstances. The Fins could be down by 28 with 4 minutes to go and he’d do everything he could to get those 4 scores. Led many comebacks and near comebacks against the Pats of those days. He was capable of amazing things when any team was trying to close out a game against him.

I feel for Dan Marino… he was great and I mean great… like all time great. I am a Pats fan and I think the dome argument has some merit but the NFL in the 80s is not the NFL now with all the new rules for coverage … pass interference… hitting the QB… and offense in general has been legislated to be better…

I wonder if Dan played today what his numbers would have been… Brady and Manning play in a different league than Dan did… I think Marino numbers were harder to get …

Not a fair comparison…

toolkien says:Sep 5, 2013 2:48 PM

Starting in 1956, Unitas began a career that grabbed the records. Tarkenton broke them. Marino passed Tarkenton. Favre broke Marino’s records. Manning is on an arc through toward the records. And between them ALL, covering 88 total seasons QB’d over 57 years, they have a TOTAL of FOUR championship rings – two by Unitas before the AFL even came into existence. So in the “modern” era of football (1960) there have been two championships by record holding QB’s. Meanwhile, QB’s with less gross time in the league but greater accuracy (use whatever metric you want) have over twenty combined championships since 1960. Lifetime gross stats don’t mean a whole lot where it really matters.

So called “Championships” do not count as SuperBowl wins for obvious reasons.

If I could choose any QB to win a SuperBowl for me, it would be Joe Montana. It’s fairly simple in my estimation. Marino at his best might (not likely) win with the game on the line. He would do everything within his power. Favre is more likely to win it than Marino. He would take any chance he thought available. Joe Montana would win.

for the people saying Marino’s numbers hold more water due to the era, I agree…..however to trash Manning for only winning one Superbowl……take the 49ers team….in 1989, and replace Montana with a 34 year old Peyton manning…..how many more super bowls do they win? enough of this already

southernpatriots says:Sep 6, 2013 8:32 AM

Well, last night Manning butt whipped the Ravens and tied the record for 7 TDs in one game. The Manning-Welker connection looked as if they had been together for years.